Nikole Hannah-Jones, 45, retweeted a post Sunday claiming the “supremacy around the media coverage of [the war] isn’t even subtle” while sharing a clip of an Al Jazeera report citing the “prosperous middle class” in Ukraine who were desperately trying to board a train to escape the war-ravaged country.
“What if I told you Europe is not a continent by definition, but a geopolitical fiction to separate it from Asia and so the alarm about a European, or civilized, or First World nation being invaded is a dog whistle to tell us we should care because they are like us,” Hannah-Jones tweeted Sunday to her 671,000 followers.
This is from Joshua Rhett Miller, “NYT’s Nikole Hannah-Jones blasts ‘racialized’ coverage of Ukraine war,” New York Post, February 28, 2022.
When I read this at the time, I, like many of my friends on Facebook, pooh-poohed the idea.
Then I started thinking about the Saudis and Yemen. Read this:
The armed conflict in Yemen has killed and injured thousands of Yemeni civilians since it began. As of November 2018, 6,872 civilians had been killed and 10,768 wounded, the majority by Saudi Arabia-led coalition airstrikes, according to the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR). The actual civilian casualties are likely much higher. Thousands more have been displaced by the fighting and millions suffer from shortages of food and medical care.
I’m pretty sure that that number is much higher than the number of Ukrainian civilians killed by the Russian military in the war that started last month. A March 4 news story in the Washington Post last week put it at 227.
Yet we in the west have never seen the outpouring of support for Yemen and outpouring of criticism of Saudi Arabia that we see for and against Ukraine and Russia, respectively.
Why is that? I think it’s because many of us feel a stronger connection to people in Europe than in Asia.
So, to answer the question in this title, Yes, I think Nikole Hannah-Jones is on to something.
HT2 Phil Magness.
READER COMMENTS
Peter Gerdes
Mar 8 2022 at 6:35pm
She’s trying too hard with the racial angle. I think there would be a huge amount of coverage if it was South Korea or Japan.
I don’t see why that’s morally any different than racism (tho the idea that racism is uniquely morally bad rather than being something that’s easy to recognize and oppose as harmful is suspect imo) but, yes, the fact that the ppl fleeing are dressed like us, talk like us and have jobs like us make it much more emotionally salient. But that’s the nature of being human. If we can see ppl who are like ourselves or imagine ourselves in a situation we empathize more.
David Henderson
Mar 8 2022 at 6:59pm
You wrote:
In other words, your answer to the question is the same as mine: yes.
Andrew_FL
Mar 8 2022 at 6:54pm
People for better or worse look at the Middle East and see war and chaos as the norm. They see war and chaos in Europe as abnormal and a significant regression in human progress.
For Europeans, there is also the rational selfish, rather than racial reason to suddenly care in this case. A war that is in closer physical proximity to you poses more of a threat to your life. Not that complicated.
David Henderson
Mar 8 2022 at 7:02pm
You wrote:
Distance from Monterey to Yemen: 8,774 miles.
Distance from Monterey to Ukraine: 6,332.
So yes, you’re right. Do you think that being 38.6 percent further away makes that much difference?
Andrew_FL
Mar 8 2022 at 10:28pm
It’s weird to suggest that I was talking about people in Monterey when I specifically said my proximity point is about Europeans.
David Henderson
Mar 8 2022 at 10:50pm
Good point. I took the “you” literally.
But to clarify, I was focusing on how Americans think about it, not Europeans. In that case, the distances I gave are relevant.
Jake
Mar 8 2022 at 7:08pm
The Yemeni conflict is viewed as a civil war. Like many other civil conflicts in the ME and Africa over the past 30 years, rightly or wrongly and even those where significant Western power is used to wield influence toward one side or another, it’s not viewed as the same violation of sovereignty as a foreign invasion against an in tact regime. There’s also the fact that much of the rhetoric involves the US’s NATO obligations. I don’t think it’s too surprising there’s a lot of coverage about it.
John Hall
Mar 8 2022 at 7:16pm
There is a simpler explanation: Saudi Arabia is a friend to the US government and Russia is not.
David Henderson
Mar 8 2022 at 7:18pm
Good point, and then the question is why? It can’t be because Saudi Arabia has so much more civilized a government.
BC
Mar 9 2022 at 12:36pm
I think it might have something to do with Iran taking our embassy hostage in 1979-1980. Saudi Arabia and Iran are Middle East rivals.
Andy Gardner
Mar 8 2022 at 8:04pm
Is the question about news coverage or about humanitarian, military, and logistical aid? If news coverage, the Russia/Ukraine war is more directly of interest to news outlets because the viewers that advertisers want care more about Europe and Europeans than Yemenis. Viewers care that a military power that threatens global nuclear war intends to force a European nation to surrender sovereignty and that Ukraine won’t likely sate Putin’s appetite. Viewers care because the conflict shatters their previous assumptions about the safety and security of Europe, viewers care because this could a prelude to what they will experience if Putin is unchecked. Viewers care because the Ukrainians are already in Europe and they wonder whether 2MM Ukrainian refugees becomes 20MM Ukrainian refugees.
If the question is humanitarian, military, and logistical aid, then many practicalities arise. We spent 18 years in Afghanistan and what did we achieve? How do we “win” peace in Yemen? Where do we operate from? What is the geopolitical prize? Will we be greeted as liberators? Will they be able to rebuild a functioning society? Will it be based (even loosely) on Western values and norms? What is the risk that the Saudis go on a conquering spree?
The situations are very different. Is there racism, ABSOLUTELY. Would it change the calculus regarding the treatment of Ukraine and Yemen, NO.
Ken P
Mar 8 2022 at 8:16pm
I agree but also think a big contributor is the narrative people are fed by the media. The war in Yemen is largely ignored by the press because our government is very involved in that war. I think opinion would be different if the war and its victims were front and center in media coverage.
The argument that Ukraine is more economically developed is certainly true in comparison to Yemen, but the GDP per capita of Ukraine is half that of Mexico. I’m sure that would surprise most people.
Lizard Man
Mar 8 2022 at 8:23pm
Yemen is a civil war with substantial involvement from competing regional powers Saudi Arabia and Iran.
Russia invaded Ukraine, and there is a possibility that Russia will attack other nations, including NATO members. That would result in a war involving multiple nuclear powers. I think the underlying threat of nuclear war explains US interest in Ukraine.
Mark Z
Mar 8 2022 at 10:42pm
I would posit that if (when?) China invades Taiwan, we’ll care about as much about it as we care about Ukraine, maybe more, even though Taiwanese people aren’t white, because 1) it’s a developed liberal democracy like us, 2) it’s an ally, 3) war in east Asia is rare, and 4) China is a nuclear armed great power that is our rival, which greatly enhances the significance of the conflict. Ukraine is sort of a democracy (more so than Russia), more or less an ally (or was trying to become one), is in a continent that has seen little war in the last 80 years, and is being attacked by a nuclear-armed great power that is perhaps our greatest rival.
By contrast, the Houthi movement in Yemen is not liberal democratic but rather an Islamist movement (and recall there are certain reasons why Americans have a general antipathy toward such movements), supported by another of our rivals (Iran), is fighting primarily against a US ally (Saudi Arabia), in a region where war is more the norm than the exception.
Finally, there is a much larger Ukrainian diaspora in the US than a Yemeni one. I’ve known a lot of Ukrainians, but never a Yemeni, and I expect that’s true of many Americans. I think race has little if anything to do with the difference in attitudes. Jones just skipped over a bunch of much more plausible reasons and jumped to the most malicious possible reason why people would care more about the war in Ukraine than the war in Yemen. It seems like motivated reasoning on her part.
Joshua
Mar 9 2022 at 4:19am
Calling the world racist won’t stop people from around the globe caring about the plight of the Ukrainians. Most people will just ignore this ridiculous talking point and focus on more important things…such as the risk of global nuclear war and total economic collapse. Leave it to Nikole to bring race into literally everything. Russia could nuke Europe and she still would be saying “why should we care? It’s just a bunch of white people.”
Knut P. Heen
Mar 9 2022 at 6:15am
The war in Yemen is not at the border of a NATO country. A few mistakes, and this conflict may escalate to World War 3. There is no chance the conflict in Yemen will escalate to a World War 3. Moreover, they are fighting between nuclear reactors in the Ukraine.
Jon Murphy
Mar 9 2022 at 8:17am
My objection to her comment is not so much the phenomenon (disproportionate focus on Ukraine versus ROW), but rather her means of explanation. We needn’t make all the assumptions she has to make to argue her case that the discrepancy is about white supremacy. Simpler explanations will do:
First: Russia’s invasion constitutes a breach of peace in a region that has largely seen peace for 30 years. Conversely, Saudi Arabia’s war in Yemen has been going on since 2014. Unusual events garner more media attention.
Second: As others have pointed out above, Russia’s invasion has the possibility to spill over into a larger, potentially global, conflict. Yemen’s does not.
Third: Russia is a major player in the world economy. Actions taken against them can and will directly affect Americans’ well-being, particularly poorer Americans. Yemen, and even Saudi Arabia, are not nearly the economic threats to America.
All of these (and more) can explain why the focus on Ukraine without having to resort to race. I am a big believer in probabilistic thinking. Her explanation is possible, but given the assumptions one has to make, I think it is unlikely compared to other explanations.
I am sidestepping the question about whether or not we should care about one conflict or the other more (or equally). That’s a whole other question.
Alan Goldhammer
Mar 9 2022 at 1:04pm
This is a very curious response.
First: Russia’s invasion constitutes a breach of peace in a region that has largely seen peace for 30 years. Conversely, Saudi Arabia’s war in Yemen has been going on since 2014. Unusual events garner more media attention.
Alan Goldhammer
Mar 9 2022 at 1:05pm
Maybe one of the moderators can fix the formatting of my response since the site does not permit editing.
Jon Murphy
Mar 9 2022 at 1:20pm
Yes, thus my “largely” qualifier. But even those actions (and Russian involvement in Georgia) were very limited compared to this.
Natural resources is a major sector with many downstream implications. They sell not only oil and gas, but many metals such as nickel, and wheat. Discount that at your peril.
Knut P. Heen
Mar 9 2022 at 1:59pm
The Ukraine is among the world’s ten largest producers of wheat. They will not be sowing this spring.
The energy prices in Europe is already through the roof. Natural gas from Russia is important. Ironically, the pipeline goes through the Ukraine.
Mark Z
Mar 9 2022 at 3:25pm
I speculate about this below, but in search of a quantifiable measure of peace, does anyone really doubt that the fraction of Europeans who’ve died in war in the last 30 years (or even 50, 60, or 70) is much lower than the fraction of Middle Easterners who’ve died in war? If you think for a moment about the recently history of the Middle East, can you honestly say you think Europe has been a comparably violent place?
Geoffrey Ryan
Mar 9 2022 at 8:20am
There’s a big difference between the Hannah-Jones point of view, which is that extra attention to Ukraine is white supremacy signal that we should care more about people who are like us, and my view that we naturally care more about people who are like us… without the evil guidance of white supremacists. If this is true, reporting differences are driven by naturally occurring reader preferences, instead of being the primary cause of reader preferences. In other words, Hannah-Jones sees evil conspiracy and I do not.
Michael Rulle
Mar 9 2022 at 9:05am
Her interpretation of all things tend to be racialist. So, no, she is not right. What’s the cliche? When your only tool is a hammer, everything seems like a nail.
Floccina
Mar 9 2022 at 9:55am
This is kind of racism that I think really exists. Another example is the rate that young black men are being murdered in St Louis is very high and if the victims (and perps) were white we would be doing more about it.
Another little thing, I watch some basketball and track videos on youtube and youtube seems to offer a disproportionate amount of Lary Byrd, Pete Maravich, Matthew Boling, even Mac McClung (he’s done little to earn that notoriety so far). The idea of a great white hope lives.
So people seem to think in racial lines, and if they are white like to see a white guy do well.
Part of it might be an underdog effect, like my mother told me her family loved to see Joe Lewis do well, seeing a poor black man beat the supposedly superior race. If there are no or few black doing well in a field people might cheer more for them.
How destructive the above racism is another question.
Alan Goldhammer
Mar 9 2022 at 1:12pm
Perhaps you have not heard of Abby Steiner. See THIS YouTube video.
I assume that Joe Lewis was simply a type as the boxer’s surname was Louis
Floccina
Mar 9 2022 at 2:22pm
Thanks for the link.
Yes should have been: Joe Louis
Michael W
Mar 9 2022 at 10:27am
Completely missing here is the treaty obligation we have with countries having a border with Ukraine. We have no such obligations with the Saudis or Yemenis. That makes a great deal of difference in our actions regardless of race or continent.
steve
Mar 9 2022 at 11:03am
It is odd that the ME is seen as the site of war and chaos when it was Europe that had a war actually called the Hundred Years War plus WW1 and WW2, the biggest ones of all. Then all of the chaos in Ireland, Russia sending troops into Hungary and other countries, Franco and fighting in Spain, etc. This is mostly recency bias of a sort. Its also Muslims killing Muslims and we are mostly Christian.
Would also dispute Saudi Arabia being our friend.
Mark Z
Mar 9 2022 at 3:22pm
The Hundred Years War was 600 years ago. Even WW2 is now basically beyond the living memory of people alive today. Conversely, even during my still relatively short life I’m not sure both hands would be enough to count the number of Middle Eastern wars that have happened. I’m quite certain if we computed the fraction of Middle Easterners who’ve died in war in the last 50 years vs. Europeans, the former number would be much, much, much higher.
steve
Mar 9 2022 at 4:03pm
I think I said recency bias. What if we discount the deaths caused by Europeans or Americans coming to their countries? Really, the big one would be the Iran-Iraq War with 500,000 killed, but that was over 40 years ago so maybe we shouldn’t count that one.
Steve
Jon Murphy
Mar 9 2022 at 4:10pm
Steve-
That you have to go back nearly a century (World War 2) to make your case that Europe is subject to major wars is pretty much Mark’s point.
Mark Z
Mar 9 2022 at 5:30pm
Except it’s not really a bias here. E.g., there’s hardly a country in the world I’m less worried about starting a war than Germany. Is that because I have recency bias, or is it recognition of the fact that Germany today is clearly not as belligerent as it was a hundred years ago? We *should* events in affecting our judgement about the present. 40 years < 80 years. The Iraqi government also invaded a neighbor 30 years ago too. If you really want to argue that France is about as likely to go to war with England because of the 100 years war as Iraq is to go to war with Iran, fine, I guess that’s an opinion.
Mark Z
Mar 9 2022 at 5:32pm
Correction: ‘We should discount events in the past…’
Monte
Mar 9 2022 at 12:56pm
It doesn’t really matter whether NHJ is right about Ukraine media coverage or not, does it? Allegations of white supremacy and implicit bias are publicity stunts that ultimately derail every topic of discussion into a profitable venture for race baiters like NHJ, Sharpton, Diangelo, et al, as far as I’m concerned.
Cool! I hope for their sake they’re able to parlay the small fortunes they’ve made thus far on this score into far greater returns, but not on my dime.
BC
Mar 9 2022 at 1:29pm
First, I find it implausible that Al Jazeera would have an ethnic bias against Middle Easterners vs. Europeans.
Beyond that, the Middle East invasion that would seem most comparable to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine would probably be Saddam Hussein’s invasion of Kuwait, which provoked the first Gulf War. In fact, the point of the first Gulf War was to establish the post-Cold War “New World Order”, the very Order that the Russian invasion directly challenges (no redrawing of national borders through force). In that case, the West did not simply sanction Saddam Hussein nor express sympathy for the Kuwaitis. The US led an international coalition to forcibly reverse Hussein’s annexation of Kuwait. Of course, unlike the present case of Ukraine, there was little risk of nuclear escalation as Russia had little appetite at the time to oppose the US-led coalition. (That’s what made the New World Order possible.) But, the point is that the West was not less sympathetic to the Kuwaitis than the Ukrainians.
The Israelis might be one Middle Eastern group that suffers from Western bias, probably more so Western European bias than American bias. Western Europeans (and some Americans) seem to expect the Jewish state to tolerate, and show extreme restraint in responding to, terrorist attacks to a degree that would be unimaginable if applied to majority Christian countries like the US and those of Western Europe. For example, after 9/11 most of the world rallied to support the US. The US response was to vanquish the Taliban to stop them from providing safe harbor for Al Qaeda to train for additional attacks. In comparison, Israel is expected to tolerate regimes that provide safe harbor for Hamas and other terrorist groups that continue to threaten more attacks against Israel.
Until the last few years, Westerners also seemed to downplay Communist China’s many transgressions against Uyghurs, Hong Kongers, Tibetans, Tiananmen Square protestors, Falun Gong, etc. and threats against its neighbors like Taiwan, Japan, and nations around the South China Sea. The West did not seem to have the same appetite to confront Communist China in the same way that it confronted Communist Russia’s transgressions and threats against Europeans. Compare, for example, the West’s efforts in the Berlin Airlift to the uncontested return of Hong Kong to China, even the parts that had been ceded permanently to the UK. If those sections had been inhabited primarily by ethnic Brits, would the West have been so willing to turn those inhabitants over to the Communists?
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